Utah Travel Headlines

Friday, November 30, 2012

FrontRunner Extends Commuter Rail Between Salt Lake City And Provo

The new FrontRunner south commuter rail
line is schedule to begin public operation on December 10. A line is
already in service connecting Salt
Lake City with Ogden. With
the new line operational, it will be much easier/faster/more
convenient to travel between major cities along the Wasatch Front.

FrontRunner trains cruises at about 79
mph, according to this
Deseret News article. They have limited stops and so travel time
should be quite reasonable – far better than driving I-15 during
rush hour.

The Provo
hub is near the center of the city, and the Salt Lake hub is close to
that downtown area. I often drive to Salt Lake for meetings in the
central city area and I will definitely be riding the train. From my
home it is an easy bike ride to downtown Provo. From the Salt Lake
hub I can easily walk to most downtown destinations, or hop on UTA
buses (which provide free service in the downtown area).

Here are excerpts from the Deseret News
article.

The $850 million
line is the third of five taxpayer-funded transit projects voters in
Salt Lake and Utah counties approved in 2006. The remaining two —
TRAX lines to Salt Lake City International Airport and Draper —
will open next year.

The public may
take a free test ride on the new line Dec. 8. UTA is asking riders to
bring as "fare" a nonperishable food item to benefit the
Utah Food Bank.

As the train makes
its way south, it passes through the marshy Jordan Narrows and offers
sweeping views of Utah Lake to the west and Mount Timpanogos to the
east. It stops in Murray, South Jordan, Draper, Lehi, American Fork
and Orem. Travel time between Salt Lake City and Provo is about an
hour.

"If nothing
else, it's worth the ride just for the scenery," Allegra said.

Even as it opens
the Provo-to-Salt Lake City line, UTA is already looking to expand
the system farther north and south. Preliminary work on extending the
commuter rail north to Brigham City began this week. Plans to go
south to Payson and possibly Santaquin also are on the drawing board.